successes, he was tragically predeceased by three sons. There is a portrait of him hanging in the dining room of the Château which he had built. Claude's grandson, François, became in 1650 the heir his grand-uncle, François II Jouvenel des Ursins. He had a prestigious military career, attaining the rank of Maréchal des camp, and posts such as Gouverneur des ville et citadelle de Charleville et Mont-Olympe. His son, Esprit Jouvenel de Harville des Ursins, was Maréchal des camp in 1704, and in 1710, became Lieutenant-général des Armées du Roi. His grandson, Claude-Constant-Esprit Jouvenel des Ursins d'Harville, married in 1744 to Marie-Antoinette Goyon de Matignon, the daughter of Thomas, son of the celebrated Marshal of France, Charles-Auguste. He also had a distinguished military career. He was Capitaine de cavalerie au régiment Dauphin, taking part in the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745, and the capture of the Electorate of Hanover and subsequent French defeat in the Battle of Minden in 1759. In 1773, he founded the coal mining company Compagnie des mines d'Aniche, which became of the most important mining companies of France, lasting until it was nationalized by the French government after World War II. He became a Knight Commander of Order of Saint Louis and a Knight Grand Cross in 1781. Life before the revolution He began his military career very young, according to Vuillemin. On November 25, 1766 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Corps Royal des Carabiniers. He worked his way up through the ranks, becoming a Major in the Gendarmerie in 1786, a Field Marshal in 1788, and a Lieutenant-General in the Army of the North in 1792. As a member of an ancient French noble family dating back to the Second Crusade, he entered the gendarmerie at a young age. His father was Claude II Constant-Esprit Juvénal des Ursins d'Harville, Marquis de Traînel (1722–1794). Through his fourth great-grandmother, Catherine Jouvenel des Ursins, daughter of Christophe Jouvenel des Ursins and Madeleine de Luxembourg he was a cognatic descendant of the House of Luxembourg-Ligny a cadette branch of the House of Luxembourg. Military career The nobility had a privileged place in French society, and many political and military positions were traditionally restricted to men of high birth. According to a period account (which can be found George Sand's autobiography), the Count had been a little indifferent and hesitant at the Battle of Jemappes while